Illustration by Natasha Phang Lee: @npl_illustration
Ableism: The discrimination against people with disabilities or those who are perceived to be disabled. This can come in many forms, from not making events wheelchair or hard-of-hearing accessible to failing to design policy with disabled people in mind.
● See Kera Sherwood-O-Regan’s piece in Issue 03, ‘Nobody Knows Our Community Better Than We Do: Why Climate Justice Cannot Exist Without Disability Justice’. Download Issue HERE.
● It’s Time We Talk About Casual Ableism by The Eco Justice Project
Anti-racism: The commitment to actively challenge and dismantle racist behaviours and systems. Simply not participating in explicit, overt and intentional acts of racism does not constitute anti-racism.
BIPOC: Black, Indigenous and People of Colour.
● The term ‘BIPOC’: The good and the bad, the dos and the don’ts by Marie Beecham
Capitalism: Formally defined as ‘an economic, political, and social system in which property, business, and industry are privately owned, directed towards making the greatest possible profits for successful organisations and people’. Can be redefined as a system within which disadvantaged people are further marginalised for the gain of the elite.
Cis-gender: Describes those whose gender identity is the same as the biological sex that they were assigned at birth.
Climate justice: Reframes climate change as more than solely an environmental concern, but also a social, political and human rights issue. This includes how climate change intersects with poverty, displacement, racism and a myriad of issues across all facets of human and ecological life.
● See ISSUE 03 - Climate Justice.
● Is climate change really a racist crisis? by Michael Lotomey
Climate trauma: Encompasses the physiological stress and anxiety that arises from personal experience with the climate crisis, often directly connected to someone’s economic capability to withstand and recover from the impacts.
● Climate Anxiety and Climate Trauma by Mitzi Jonelle Tan
Colourism: Prejudice or discrimination based on skin tone, with lighter skin being favoured over darker skin. Colourism occurs within and across racial groups.
● A Short Introduction to: Colourism Within the Black Community by Maxine
Decarbonisation: The process of reducing carbon intensity in the power sector. This is essential if we want to meet any targets set by the Paris Agreement and move forwards in the battle against the climate crisis.
● It’s time to make a plan for a future without coal by Mary Anne Hitt
● Rethinking the nature/culture divide in our cities by Ed Faulkner
Decolonisation (see colonisation): The process of undoing colonialism. This term is widely used and discourse, literature, critical theory and policy can all be considered forms of decolonisation. It has been used largely by Latin American thinkers who aim to topple the false superiority of western knowledge, practices and culture. This also relates to post-colonialism, a very similar purpose which has origins in India, however decolonisation is also used by those who contest the idea that colonialism had a clear end. (See neo-colonialism).
● Broken Links in the Supply Chain: Climate and Exploitation of Workers Rights webinar
Eco-anxiety: Extreme worry about current and future harm to the environment caused by human activity and climate change. The American physiological association describes the term as “a chronic fear of environmental doom”.
● Climate Anxiety and Climate Trauma by Mitzi Jonelle Tan
● It’s the end of the world and we know it and I don’t feel fine by Max Offerman
Eco-facism: An ideology often rooted in the far right which blames the climate crisis on overpopulation, immigration, and over-industrialisation.
Eco-feminism: A branch of feminism which understands the forces which oppress and dominate nature to be the same forces that marginalise and oppress womxn. Two main forces are capitalism and the patriarchy (see definition).
● See article in ISSUE 03: Diana Paris Rodriguez, ‘Fighting the Erasure of Indigenous Voices: The Power of Eco-Feminism in the Search for Solutions to the Climate Crisis’.
Eco-phobia: Feelings of dread and powerlessness to stop environmental catastrophe.
● It’s the end of the world and we know it and I don’t feel fine by Max Offerman
● Climate Anxiety and Climate Trauma by Mitzi Jonelle Tan
Ethnocentrism: The belief that one's own group, culture and traditions are superior to those of other countries or ways of life. We often hear of ‘Eurocentrism’ which describes the centring of European belief systems (or that of the western world more broadly) as correct.
● Unboxing Feminism and Queerness through BGU Zine by Yume Morimoto
Environmental racism: The formal definition of environmental racism is “environmental injustice that occurs within a racialised context both in practice and policy”. It was coined in 1982 by Dr. Benjamin Chavis, an African American civil rights activist who worked with researchers to collate evidence of environmental racism in the US.
● The fight for Shell’s accountability in the Niger Delta by Samia Dumbuya
Feminism: The belief in gender equality across social, political and economic life. This includes achieving equal access to resources, decision-making and economic opportunities. There is a growing emphasis on the need for feminism to be intersectional (see Intersectional Feminism), honouring the rights of all womxn.
Food apartheid: Describes the systemic economic, social and racial inequalities which create divisions in accessing affordable, fresh food. It differs from definitions of ‘food deserts’ which describes a lack of access to food as a geographic issue. Food apartheid takes account of geographical restrictions, but not in isolation.
● “There is no rest”: Leah Penniman on farming while Black by Sharlene Gandhi
Gentrification: A process of neighbourhood change in a previously low-income area following the arrival of higher-income residents and business investment. This often results in the displacement of previous occupants as real-estate prices and cost of living increase to an unattainable level. Demographic and racial changes are regularly observed, with gentrification criticised for favouring capitalist and white upper class interests, over investing resources into the needs of existing communities.
● Our place is your place: reflections on seven sisters indoor market by Mario Washington-Ihieme
● Save Latin Village Christmas fundraiser by Javie Huxley
Geopolitics: Geopolitics is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations.
Greenwashing: A false or misleading image presented by an organisation, individual or business to make their practices appear environmentally responsible. Greenwashing is a growing issue as Sustainability becomes an increasingly profitable sector.
● Aja Barber and her work on fashion and sustainability (see also her work on intersectional activism)
Hetero-cis-normativity: The perception that it is “normal” to be both heterosexual and cisgender (see definition), whilst those identifying otherwise are considered ‘different’ or abnormal. As a result, those identifying as heterosexual and cisgender face less prejudice and enjoy privileges over those who do not.
Imperialism: State policy, agenda or practice which extends political, economic or direct territorial control and influence over other territories and people.
Intergenerational trauma (inherited trauma): Trauma which has been passed on from one generation to the next. This trauma can originate from a variety of experiences, including cultural or historical events which have targeted, and caused harm to, a particular group of people.
● From partition to present: confronting intergenerational trauma
Intersectionality: Describes the multiple social, political and cultural identities that people have which affect the various levels of discrimination, oppression, prejudice and privilege that they face. This includes the likes of race, gender identity, sexuality, social class, and health. The word was coined by law professor and civil rights advocate Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw.
Intersectional feminism: Coined in 1989 by Dr. Crenshaw who recognised that gender and race should not be discussed in isolation but they need to work together.
● Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
● Sister Outsider by Audre Lourde
Microaggressions: Discriminatory comments and behaviours against marginalised groups which are casual, indirect, sometimes unintentional (revealing internalised biases) and emerge frequently within everyday life.
Misogynoir: Coined by feminist scholar and activist Moya Bailey to describe the ‘anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience’. A form of sexism directed towards Black women specifically.
● Queens of Sheba reigning in South London: a review by Erin Cobby
Neocolonialism: This is the practice of a nation using methods other than direct military control to exert power or pressure over another. These can include economics, globalisation or indirect political control.
Neoliberalism: The main economic ideology since the 1970s, which insists on less state intervention in individuals’ lives, and promotes private business and market relations. Key neoliberal policies include redirecting public funds from welfare (benefit support, schooling and so on) towards maximising economic competitiveness; reducing barriers to market growth (e.g. free trade agreements); and increased private sector involvement in delivering public services.
Non-binary: A spectrum of identities which are not exclusively feminine or masculine. People who identify as non-binary usually will not use the pronouns of their assigned sex.
● The toxic side of LGBTQI+ labels by Ben Pechey
Overconsumption: Consuming something in excessive quantities. When used in an environmental context, overconsumption describes the consumption of the earth’s natural resources at a rate which exceeds the ecosystem’s ability to replenish itself. When this occurs over prolonged periods of time, environmental degradation and ecosystem loss is common. Key sectors for overconsumption include fast-fashion and food waste.
Patriarchy: The societal hierarchy which favours men over women and other gender identities. This grants men greater power and privilege, which is often exercised to oppress or maintain the perceived inferiority of other genders.
● Man Made Disaster: patriarchy and the planet by Do the Green Thing
● See Issue 02: Global Womxnhood
Period poverty: A global and systemic problem where people who have periods do not have access to safe and sanitary period products – or – where they are in a context where you cannot have your period without it being stigmatised. NB it is important to note that period poverty (amongst terms like food poverty and digital poverty) is usually simply a derivative of the experience of poverty as a whole and should not always be separated from it.
● Menstruation is not a luxury and hygiene should not be a privilege by shado
Queerness: Used to describe those who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
● Can the soul of a man be trapped in the body of a woman? by Adam Kashmiry
● "Glamrou is a celebration of my gender-queerness, and she's a celebration of all the female facets of my Arab and Muslim heritage." in conversation with Amrou Al-Kadhi
Repatriation: The return of goods, items and/or people back to their country of origin.
● Unfinished histories: Imagining a Museum of British Colonialism by Krishna Joshi
Reproductive justice: SisterSong defines Reproductive Justice as ‘the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.’ Reproductive justice extends the often singular focus on bodily autonomy, to combine reproductive rights (e.g. legal abortions and birth control) with social justice. Where women may have reproductive choice, they may not have access, and reproductive justice is the complete mental, social, economic, political, and spiritual wellbeing of all women in achieving their reproductive wishes.
● Pro-choice fundraising t-shirt
Scapegoating: The act of projecting unfair blame on a person or group for something that they are not responsible for. Scapegoating is often directed towards marginalised groups as a means of justifying negative stereotypes and/or the harmful treatment of them.
Systemic racism: A form of racism which is embedded within the structure of how society operates. It discriminates across all facets of life, including (but not limited to) education, employment, criminal justice, political decision-making, housing, healthcare and surveillance.
● The Northern Irish justice system has one agenda: To keep Black people in line by Angel Arutura
● Broken Links in the Supply Chain: Climate and Exploitation of Workers Rights webinar
Tone policing: A tactic used to criticise the tone in which things are said rather than responding to the actual content. It is often used by privileged (typically white) individuals to avoid accountability, and silence the thoughts and opinions of marginalised groups.
Toxic masculinity: Expected attitudes and behaviours of men which cause societal harm and harm to men themselves. These ideas are socialised, rooted in cultural and traditional gender stereotypes including aggression, violence and emotional vacancy.
● Man Made Disaster: patriarchy and the planet
Transphobia: Discrimination against transgender people.
White privilege: A phrase coined by feminist and anti-racist scholar Peggy McIntosh to describe the societal privileges experienced by white people. Peggy describes these privileges as an invisible and unearned ‘knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks’.
● Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
White saviourism: The assumption that BIPOC need white people to save them, presenting them as helpless and undermining their knowledge and agency.
● Unpacking the White Savior Complex by Eco Gal
White supremacy: A racist ideology which believes in the superiority and dominance of white people over other racial groups. White supremacy not only manifests at an individual level, but is also maintained through systems and institutions.
● Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad
White washing: Covering up the truth of a matter/historical event to erase the unacceptable or disagreeable actions of white people, making a false truth which is more palatable – usually at the expense of non-white people.
Womxn: Womxn is increasingly being adopted for a number of reasons, the main one being that the term is seen to be inclusive of non-binary and trans women. We made the editorial decision to spell womxn with an x to be inclusive of all people identifying as such. However, its use is also contested as being a blanket term for a myriad of identities, therefore if a person does not want to be categorised with an x, we do not use the term.
● See ISSUE 02: Global Womxnhood
Youthwashing: Commonly used in criticisms of climate inaction to describe engagement with young people by institutions and corporations in order to appear environmentally conscious. Young people are targeted in this context as they are often perceived to be synonymous with the climate movement.
Xenophobia: Discrimination against people because they are foreign to you or different to how you identify.